“Heather arrived at her mother's late, flustered and dazed. Cassandra's casual reminder had fired the starting gun on a mad dash scramble to catch the train. Even before she'd reached the station however she'd known she would miss the one she had intended to catch.

This meant that on top of pushing through the busy station and getting tickets, she had needed to call her mother to tell her she would be late. By the time she'd reached the platform, the adrenaline that had got her there was started to ebb and by the time the train was underway, the night without sleep had caught up with her.

She'd fought it for a while but had soon dropped off, slumping into a deep, dead sleep. By a total fluke she had jumped awake just as the train was pulling into her stop. As she'd made her way out of the station her heart had been pounding again. This time it had been the thought of the call she would have had to make to her mother had she missed her stop.

In the back of the taxi on the way to her mother's house, Heather had tried to shake off the fog of too little sleep and the dread of the too near miss. She had distracted herself by watching her childhood home slide across the windows.

* * *

As they work their way through the countryside, more people get off than get on at every stop so that the carriage gets gradually quieter. Daniel inspects every person who enters the carriage carefully, noting their physical potential, what they're carrying, whether they look at her, how close to her they sit.

Apart from these occasional distractions, he spends the rest of the time watching her as she sleeps. He explores the lines of her face, the fall of her hair but the more he looks, the less he understands and the less he understands, the more he wants to know.

Why can't he read her? Even now, no matter how hard he tries, he can't read her. He starts to think back, going through everything else he's seen of her, looking for some clue. Suddenly it's like he's back in the cab, back in that moment when she'd seemed to look straight at him. His heart begins to race.

Shaking his head he tears himself away from her. Fields and houses slide past his window. He tries to see them but can't. Then, a garbled voice crackles through the carriage, something about the next stop, their stop.

He looks back over but she's still fast asleep. The train starts to slow down as it approaches the station and people begin to get the stuff together, putting on coats and getting up to take down bags from overhead. She just carries on sleeping.

The train's pulling into the station now and people are stepping out into the aisle. He frowns and gets up from his own seat, making his way to join the end of the queue forming down the end of the aisle.

As he passes her he brings his fist to his mouth and lets out a sudden, barking cough, a raw sound that tears through the carriage. Several people around him jump then turn to give him shitty looks but he ignores them and stares straight ahead.

A few seconds later he lets himself glance quickly back over his shoulder. He sees that she's moving now, scrabbling around and clambering out from her seat in a panic. The train finally eases to a halt and people begin to get off.

He shuffles along with the rest, stepping out onto the platform then dragging his feet until he sees her pass him and head off towards the exit. He loses sight of her for a second or two while he works his way out of the station but as he steps out into the sunlight he sees her getting into a taxi.”

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